Product Description

`a kinetic novel, spiced with stunning imagery'.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #7473 in Books
• Published on: 2009-01-01
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 278 pages

Review
`The contrast between life in a rich corporation and in the slums is wryly done'
--Tatler

`Scudamore has the superb novelist's gift for giving vivid, sympathetic life to even second string characters, as well as his main ones; he also has the extraordinary power of summoning an entire brooding, smoggy city to life. Most of all, though, he has the ability to take on the heaviest of themes with the lightest and most compelling of touches, and leave you with an appetite for more.' Daily Telegraph --Daily Telegraph

Review
`(A) well-paced narrative.'

'He has the ability to take on the heaviest of themes with the lightest and most compelling of touches'.

Review
`A fast-paced novel with ingenious and constant twists. The language is brilliantly sharp'.

Customer Reviews

Fast-paced story, wonderfully evocative of Brazil
I had heard good things about James Scudamore's first novel, which someone told me was set in Ecuador and had been nominated for the Costa prize. Having spent several summers in Sao Paulo and travelled in Chile I was drawn to this book, hoping for an exciting holiday read that would remind me of my travels. I was not disappointed. This is a gripping and highly original novel with complex yet credible characters and an innovative plot. It evokes the squalor and neighbouring splendour of Sao Paulo memorably and accurately and I finished it in a couple of days. Sharp and satisfying fiction.

A superb second novel
Set in Ecuador The Amnesia Clinic was an impressive - and award-winning - debut about story telling. Buy it and read it. Then read Heliopolis. It too is set in South America and is an even more satisfying read. Dealing with super wealth and extreme poverty; nuture and nature; luck and choice; freedom and compromise... The author has created highly credible characters locked in often extreme situations, and manages to invoke empathy for all the major players. Get on with your third, Mr Scudamore. I have no objections if you want to return to South America - or visit Japan. But I'd love you to apply your brand of edginess to the UK today.

A terrific read
I was given this out of the blue. I know nothing about the author and am not a traditional fiction reader. But it was great surprise. Well written, nicely plotted and with just enough unusual info and happenings to kep it well ahead of the cliche trap. If you need a non brain-shrinking way to wile away a few precious rweading hours, you could do a great deal worse than this.